Papers allege program intervened for players

The University of Minnesota men's basketball program allegedly intervened with faculty members on behalf of several Gophers players, some of whom needed help to remain eligible to play, according to interviews and documents obtained by the Pioneer Press.

The documents, provided Tuesday by former academic counseling director Elayne Donahue, portray a basketball program desperate to keep players eligible and a university faculty sometimes willing to help.

In a 20-page report she intends to give to lawyers investigating charges of academic fraud "if they ask," Donahue said some faculty members "awarded basketball players final grades before the students completed the course work." She also reported that grades sometimes were changed years after players enrolled in courses, ostensibly to keep them eligible.

"Professors who called my office to say that they knew a basketball player didn't write the paper he turned in because it was `graduate-level work' would in the end accept the paper at face value," Donahue writes in the report. "Faculty who called to say a basketball player cheated on a test would end up accepting the test as written. Faculty who called to say that a certain basketball player never attended a class and, therefore, with one week to go would fail the course, would in the end give the player a passing grade."

One professor named in the documents said he never felt any pressure to keep basketball players eligible. But another spoke of a climate in which some faculty members gave basketball players the benefit of the doubt rather than question suspicious work.

According to the new allegations raised in documents and interviews with university officials:

• Academic counselor Alonzo Newby engineered last-minute switches in the grading method for two of player Antoine Broxsie's fall 1997 courses, ensuring Broxsie would remain academically eligible.
• Academic counselors reported concerns that one professor was told to give player Kevin Clark a "B-" in a course so he could continue to play.
• Haskins made personal visits to instructors for at least two Gophers players and gave one teacher free tickets to a Gophers basketball game.
• An Inter-College Program director expressed concern that he was being pressured to accept an athlete who did not meet requirements into the self-designed study program.

University spokeswoman Nina Shepherd said school officials would not comment on specific allegations.

Two outside law firms hired by the university continue to investigate charges of academic fraud after allegations by former university employee Jan Gangelhoff. She said she did more than 400 pieces of course work for 20 players from 1993 to 1998, and has furnished the Pioneer Press with more than 350 copies of the papers, exams and speeches. The latest documents obtained by the newspaper include four memos describing last-minute changes that gave Broxsie non-letter grades in algebra and climatology courses in the fall of 1997, guaranteeing he would remain academically eligible for basketball.

With the switch, Broxsie avoided any risk of a "D" or "F," and received "Not-satisfactory" or "N" grades under an alternate, satisfactory/not-satisfactory grading system. Unlike a "D" or "F," which would count against the requirement for a 2.0 grade-point average, "N" grades don't carry grade points and didn't affect Broxsie's eligibility to play basketball.

Under university rules, all students must choose a grading system either letter grades ("A" through "F") or satisfactory/not-satisfactory within two weeks after classes begin. But the documents allege Broxsie was permitted to switch from letter grades to the alternate system days before fall classes ended.

Newby, the academic counselor assigned to assist basketball players, allegedly contacted Broxsie's academic adviser, Mary Ellen Shaw, seeking a written petition to change from letter grades, according to a detailed account of the incident written by Jennifer Franko, executive secretary in the General College Academic Support Center.

The memo was among 64 pages of e-mails, memos and other documents that Donahue supplied to the newspaper.

Shaw "felt compelled to process the request because Alonzo Newby ... stated to her that if the petition wasn't approved, Broxsie would lose his athletic scholarship" under NCAA regulations, the Franko memo said.

In fact, Broxsie was not in danger of losing his scholarship, Donahue said Tuesday. Neither Shaw nor Franko returned repeated telephone calls. Newby declined to comment through his attorney.

Broxsie's attorney, Phil Resnick, said he could not comment until he has reviewed the memos.

Allen B. Johnson, a professor who taught at least one of the courses in question, said he cannot discuss Broxsie's grades because his comments might violate privacy laws. But he added that maintaining athletic eligibility is not a valid reason to allow a grading-system change after the deadline.

Johnson said he reported the episode to investigators handling the outside inquiry into alleged academic fraud in the men's basketball program.

Donahue said university officials met to discuss the incident last year, but the result was inconclusive.

Separate case

Documents also described a separate case of alleged grading irregularities.

According to an e-mail message dated June 2, 1998, Donahue told top athletic department officials of her concerns about possible grade-fixing relating to Clark. Donahue wrote that she had been told that Delane Welsch, an applied economics professor, gave Clark a "B-" in a micro economics course after someone in the men's basketball program told Welsch that Clark needed that grade to stay eligible.

"It is my understanding of the conversation that Kevin has still not completed the work" for the class, she wrote.

Welsch, who called Clark a "strong student," said in an interview that he has never been asked to change a student's grade, nor has he changed one on his own. "Oh heavens no. For crying out loud, no. No I don't do that," Welsch said.

Donahue's message was sent to men's athletic director Mark Dienhart, NCAA compliance officer Chris Schoemann, and associate athletic director Jeff Schemmel.

Donahue said she cannot recall what became of the issue. She said one of the three told her they would handle the matter, and because she was just weeks away from retirement, she acquiesced.

Clark said Tuesday night he doesn't remember taking the class and can't comment because "the school won't let us."

Dienhart said on Tuesday night that Schoemann "investigated the allegation and was unable to find substantiation to justify the claim."

Faculty members' concerns

Sometimes faculty members raised concerns about players' academic status.

Steve Carnes, an associate director in the university's Undergraduate Program, sent an e-mail to Donahue detailing the 1997 enrollment of former player Sam Jacobson in the Inter-College Program. Carnes wrote that Jacobson's application for enrollment was so late "we were put in the position of making a decision on a star athlete at the last second, and the pressure was clearly there to say yes."

Carnes confirmed Tuesday that he had sent the e-mail, but said he would not comment further. Jacobson, who now plays professionally for the Los Angeles Lakers, could not be reached.

Carnes wrote that Jacobson's grade-point average was below that required for admission and that Jacobson contacted the program less than two weeks before submitting his proposal. Carnes also questioned why Jacobson, a pre-business major since his first quarter at the university, submitted a proposal so late in his academic career.

"I'll be blunt and tell you that I felt behind the proverbial eight ball on this one," the e-mail said. "Getting this request when we did really does feel like it was almost a setup."

Carnes approved Jacobson's proposal, according to the e-mail, because he believed Jacobson was unaware that he didn't meet the requirements of the program and because to deny him would be "punishing Sam for what (at least) I felt was probably a case of poor advising."

According to two other memos, program officials extended deadlines for dropping classes so one men's basketball player would maintain his eligibility and signed a petition that allowed a player to drop a class long after the deadline.

Prof queries student

Val Woodward, a retired biological sciences professor, said in an interview that Newby telephoned him in late 1995 to express alarm that former Gophers basketball center John Thomas faced the threat of academic ineligibility if he didn't achieve a good grade in a human heredity class.

Thomas passed the course with a "B," Woodward said, after submitting a term paper that Gangelhoff, a former tutor and academic counseling office manager, now says she wrote.

Thomas, who now plays for the Toronto Raptors, denied in an interview last week that Gangelhoff wrote the paper, but said she might have accompanied him to the library as he researched it. He said he doesn't remember being in academic trouble at that time.

Woodward, who retired two years ago, said Newby expressed concern that Thomas might end up with an "incomplete" grade. A student can make up an incomplete, but it can affect an athlete's eligibility to play.

The professor said Newby "told me that it would certainly be good if he (Thomas) could remain eligible for winter quarter because with an `I' he couldn't play." Woodward said Thomas also spoke to him about needing to remain eligible.

Newby's attorney, Ron Rosenbaum, said neither he nor Newby would comment.

Woodward said he didn't think Thomas "had any intention of putting forth any effort in that class." At the time, Woodward said his practice was to grade students "A," "B" or "C." Anyone who earned less than that would be given an incomplete, which would become a permanent "D" or "F" if the student didn't re-take the final exam or complete other course work in the next quarter.

Thomas ended up with a "B" in the class, partly on the strength of the paper, entitled "Is There a Biological Basis to Race?" according to Woodward. Yet the professor said he was suspicious that Thomas had written a good paper after displaying little interest in the course.

"I asked him, `Did you write this?' and he said he did," Woodward said. "I had suspicions that he had some help" but made no further inquiries into it.

Thomas told the Pioneer Press that he was never questioned about his authorship of the paper.

Free tickets

Donahue said she made notes logging contact by basketball staff with professors. In one note, Donahue wrote that a former General College teaching assistant, Jed Hopkins, was given free tickets to a basketball game shortly after a visit from Haskins in 1992. She said Haskins told her about the tickets and his conversation with Hopkins after meeting with him to discuss the academic standing of former player Voshon Lenard.

"Clem told me that I didn't know how to do my job," Donahue said in an interview.

"He said `I went over to see the professor and right away I could see he didn't know anything about basketball. He's not from here (Hopkins is British). I told him how we do things over here, and I gave him a few tickets, and now he understands how you do it.' "

Donahue said that Hopkins still failed Lenard, whom Hopkins had said was not attending class or turning in assignments.

Hopkins confirmed Donahue's account, saying that Haskins and one of his assistants visited him during a class. Two Gophers basketball tickets appeared in his office mailbox a few days later.

Dienhart said on Tuesday that coaches are not prohibited from giving tickets to faculty members or from visiting with them to discuss an athlete's academic progress as long as they do not ask for special treatment for players.

Haskins' lawyer Ron Zamansky said Haskins would not comment. Previously, he has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.

Professor reconsiders accusation

Donahue said some professors who called her with concerns subsequently changed their minds about complaining. One such case, memos say, involved Sander Latts, a professor in the General College.

Suspecting that player Mark Jones did not write a paper he turned in for a General College course in 1995, Latts called academic counselor Brian Berube to voice his suspicions, memos show. Just days later, however, Latts reconsidered, writing a memo to Donahue and others saying he did not "wish to challenge Mark that his paper was all his original work."

"Because I didn't want to make any waves, I simply let it go," Latts said Tuesday. "Once I wrote a memo like the one I did, I would simply let it die and hope somebody else did something about it. I just wanted to send up a potential red flag."

"There certainly is an emphasis on keeping athletes eligible. It's impossible not to be aware that athletes need to be eligible," Latts said. "I did not want to be the one that could be charged with `He is the one who made me ineligible."'

Repeated attempts by the Pioneer Press to reach Jones, who is playing professional basketball in Turkey, were unsuccessful.

In the subsequent memo, Latts wrote that Jones' performance in his class "should no longer be questioned or investigated." But Tuesday, he said he wasn't surprised to learn that the paper in dispute - a report on adolescence - was allegedly done by Gangelhoff.

"We know it's been going on for years and years, this kind of help," Latts said of players getting assistance. "This is nothing new. We at the university just kind of assume that there are things going on."

"I probably did more about it than other people who never bothered to contact the athletic department. In some respects I think I am in the position I am because I did do something," he said. "I may not have gone the final step and blown the whistle and report, but at least I alerted people that there was something going on there."